Crowded Pound

[everconfused]

I have to agree with the pb thing. Yes, I'd love a darigan and shadow pb for my 2 hissi on my alias and no, I can't afford them anytime soon. It took me almost 2 years to paint the 4 pets on my main account. So, yeah, pb prices lowered would mean more people could paint or paint faster, but there's the pride in knowing you worked for and earned something.

As to all the pets in the pound, especially level 3 and higher. I'm going to guess that about half of this is due to the new pets and alot has to be due to the new rule that new accounts cannot adopt a level 3 or above and certain paint colors (don't know which ones) for a certain amount of time - 4 months?. This was an effort to stop the auto-adopters who'd been running rampant.

[Nefasturris]

I've been sitting here thinking for a while and I thought of the only way to get rid of overcrowding in the pound.

Just get rid of the pound.

There's no other way around it. They made it so you can only abandon one pet a day, charge you for it, and even delete the pets after so many days in the pound and it still doesn't work. Even if Neopets completely stops coming out with new pets there will still be overcrowding. For whatever reason people seem to be amused with making a bunch of pets with similar names and abandoning them all at once, that won't stop.

I know they'll never get rid of the pound, so there will always be overcrowding. As sad as it is, its become a part of Neopets. People abandon pets for others to adopt (Labbed pets and the like), Avatar collectors trade pets for the Pet Specific Avatars and a bunch of other things I'm sure I'm missing.

As far as paint brush prices... I hate how they're so high, but I have to agree with the people before me about earning such a rare pet for yourself. My Tyrannian Krawk is my pride and joy. I've had him for over three years and I managed to paint him Tyrannian with the help of my friend. I have horrible Neopets income. I can't play games, the fact that I can't afford anything other than dial-up (and that you can't get anything else out here in Hickville ) means I can't restock and I have horrible luck. When I managed to win the Mystery Pic and trade for a Krawk Potion and eventually earned enough with the help of my friend (He gave me the last 100K I needed) to paint my Krawk I was beyond happy.

Had I just been able to paint him with very little NP and it only took me a week or so compared to the few months it took me I wouldn't be as proud of him as I am. I'd still love my little clump of pixels, but I wouldn't have this wonderful sense of pride in the fact that even someone who has such a rotten income and is probably one of the poorest people in the game could earn a pet that costs so much to get.

[Q]

Why don't I ever see anyone celebrating the fact that Neopets runs a wonderful N0-KILL animal shelter? The pets do look sad, but that's because they need loving homes! They look well fed and groomed; they are robust looking, not emaciated, and wow do their coats gleam in the sunlight! They are not sitting in their own fecal matter, and do not smell of urine. Why, many of them even have petpets to play with! The only thing they are obviously lacking are play toys, so perhaps you could donated a ton of toys to the Money Tree (label them all as needing to go to pound pets so nobody takes them!).

[bgryph]

I agree that PBs should be expensive enough to require some work, but the price of some of the most expensive PBs these days is nuts.

I think the most expensive PB on the site ought to cost around 1 million NP, personally, then go down from there. Sure, having to work a bit is nice, but this is getting absurd. People shouldn't have to be saving up for years to paint their bloody Neopet.

And yes, some people will get burned because the price drops shortly after they painted. I've been burned by deflation, too. But, overall the site will be better off for it.

As for why TNT keeps releasing pets... trying to build up excitement, I guess. However, they can only keep going down this route for so long before the site just has too many species of pets. :shrug:

[Yumei]

To those complaining that paint brushes should "stay" expensive:

You haven't played very long, have you? Two years ago, basically every paint brush was LESS than 500k (Exceptions being Lost Desert, which was 600k when it first came out, Fire, which varied between 200 and 600k, and Faerie, which was... I believe 650-700k), and the solid colors were buyable.

I left for a year after my first account went kaput, and came back during the Hannah and the Ice Caves plot, and found everything massively inflated- I'm STILL wondering what the heck happened.

Anyway, I think prices should be moderated a bit. 2 million NP for a one use item that isn't safe even after it's used (coughsadeventwheezeinvisibleeventorboochicough) is beyond excessive. They should either release more paint brushes, or QUIT IT WITH THE STINKING COLOR CHANGING RANDOM EVENTS. Can you imagine how you'd feel if you painted your favorite pet a very rare color (say, plushie), then went to your lookup and saw he or she had been turned baby?

No, this has never happened to me, but... sheesh.

[xredchipx]

Perhaps new users should adopt their first pets, rather than creating new ones, and allow people to change pets' names when adopting them. If it's easier to search for a pet of the proper type and colour, that might reduce the burden on the pound.

I agree with that. And yes the poudn is overly crowded it shows that neoepts did a horrible job because all the new ones are going in pound.

[Medusa]

To those complaining that paint brushes should "stay" expensive:

You haven't played very long, have you?

I agree with those that believe paint brushes should remain expensive, I won't outline my reasons because people have already covered them all. AND, I've been playing Neopets for over five years, I've been playing since a time when every paint brush was buyable and you could get Faerie Paint Brushes for 80k. Of course, one thing I'd point out now based on my own experience is that unlike five years ago neopoints are a LOT easier to earn now - the prices of paint brushes have just increased with the ease of making neopoints. Inflation, anyone?

[Yumei]

Color me confused. I guess my year off dulled my wits, but I have a HARDER time earning NP now than I did then. The only explanation I can wrap my mind around is that perhaps Neo underwent a population explosion. More people= more demand on the same supply. (Or, perchance, a lesser supply- I would swear that random events, I.E. Paintbrush random events, have gotten much rarer.)

So, yeah. *shrugs* I hope I didn't sound harsh or anything. Just my opinion...

[Medusa]

What can I say, Neopets has expanded, the opportunities to make neopoints are now there whether or not people see them. Many of these opportunities have resulted from the expansion of the site so they didn't exist many years ago.

[bgryph]

It depends on how you make your NP. If you're a restocker or otherwise resell, then yes, your income has kept up with inflation. If you play games or the stock market, it hasn't.

Personally, I think inflation is the thing most likely to do Neopets in. Few people are willing to save for years to paint a pet, and I don't think they should have to. If I wanted to be hard-working and yet broke all the time, I'd get off the computer and play Real Life.

[Medusa]

It depends on how you make your NP. If you're a restocker or otherwise resell, then yes, your income has kept up with inflation. If you play games or the stock market, it hasn't.

I've never had a fast enough connection, I've only ever played games or the stockmarket. Incomes from games have increased over the years, the games award more points and there are now more games to play. When I first started I'd be lucky to get 1,000 neopoints from the games a day, now I can get far in excess of that. The opportunities have increased in every aspect, it just happens that some aspects have more opportunities than others.

You say few people are willing to save for years to get a certain pet and yet many do, people still do it! You only need to look around a numerous number of lookups to see that many people have gone out of their way to get painted pets.

[ria]

I agree with psycho_chic, Medusa and the others, PBs should stay the way they are... its part the economy.. and its a goal which people strive for.... and I've been playing for around 3 years now (and I find it very rude to be accused of being a New Member just because I can logically see why PB prices have risen )

But honestly, if you aren't happy to save save save your NPs up for a wonderful paintbrush or lab ray or whatever, most of us humans have a little thing called an imagination....

Seriously.... I don't mean to sound rude, but some people just seem to expect TNT to bow down to them and admit "Yes, we were wrong for not giving you, out of all of the millions of neopets players, special priveleges!" Neopets is just a game... users are free to use their imaginations and creative skills to make their pets, and their petpets, etc however they want. Whether they write stories about their pets, draw pictures, or just imagine their pets appearances.... you don't need to have fancy-schmancy PBs for your pet to be special and pretty!

/rant

(Eesh... I'm sorry... been in a really bad mood lately... very ranty...)

[Moonlight Flower]

I agree with psycho_chic, Medusa and the others, PBs should stay the way they are... its part the economy.. and its a goal which people strive for.... and I've been playing for around 3 years now (and I find it very rude to be accused of being a New Member just because I can logically see why PB prices have risen )

Same here, and I've been playing for five and a half years, and in no way do I think the prices should go down. After all, the prices are player-set anyways.

The only thing TNT could do would be to release more of certain color-changing items, but why change something that has been working for so long?

Basically... if you want it enough, it's not that hard to save up for something. Just a few months ago, I started saving for my lab map, and got it within 3 weeks. =P Without restocking.

[Daze]

I know they are just pixels but planned obselescence of pets just makes my skin crawl. There are good reasons for Neopets to be doing this (Expect to see a lot more new pets. That's my guess). First it emphasizes that pets are commodities. You can trade in your old pet like an old car for a newer model. Second, if pets are commodities there is less chance of users getting attached to them.

First of all, Planned obsolescence is really an over-statement. Neopets is the name of the game. Neo PETS - without pets there is no meaning to the way it is played.

Even though you can play the site without pets, most people want the "ultimate" pet - whatever shape that might take for them.

The site could hardly run as successfully as it is with just a couple of pets to choose from.

In contrast, a light-bulb is planned obsolescence - it is designed to be an item that is bought over and over again. You could argue that pets fall into this category, but only a cynic would describe it as so.

These pets are part of the game. How you play the game is your choice, so if you abandon a pet, it is your choice, not Neo's. Where as the lightbulb will burn out requiring you to buy a new one, even if you only bought it the week before - that choice has been made for you.

As for all the pets in the pound - TNT actually make pets and put them in there for users to adopt.

I know the pound already has the new pets, obviously put there by users, but who is to say why there were abandoned. Maybe the excitement of a new pet made people go crazy, but that is why the pound is there.

Remember, in the pound the pet is in limbo - it neither starves or dies or catches a disease (it will have the same stats as it did when abandoned) so in itself the pound isn't a bad place. Actually safer than real-life where animals are put-down ( this is to show the lighter side of Neo).

In fact, pets can't die at all. A pretty nice touch to the game if you ask me.

I actually adopt pets, take them to the lab and re-pound, so that others less fortunate can have a nice pet.

That is the upside to such a place, I always look for the positive instead of the negative all the time.

Neopians, however, regularly get frozen and the only way to save their pets is to have either hand drawn and scanned, pixel drawn, or downloaded images on their hard drive, as well as copies of their custom pet pages.
With all this material, it is possible to take one's pet to a personal web site or blog and play with it outside of Neopets.

Oh my, really ..... why would you? I mean, the game is the sum of it's parts, who would really want to "play" with a picture on your computer. Neopets as a whole is the game - not just having pets.

Neopets fears bad publicity, and Neopets can avoid it by making sure the bond between user and pet stays tenuous.

Once again you make a statement without any actual proof or evidence to support this. As far as I have seen, Neopets has never stopped, banned or turned away any publicity. In Australia, a current affairs show done a terrible piece on Neo (resulting in a ban on 13 and unders playing gambling games, but that is a whole other story). When this was brought up by users, TNT actually made a statement in the Editorial about it.

There are numerous newspaper articles (this forum actually has a link to one).

The bond between user and pet stays tenuous??? Weird. I don't really follow that train of thought....any how, as long as you follow the rules, you can have a long and successful life with your pet if you so desire.

[bgryph]

It depends on how you make your NP. If you're a restocker or otherwise resell, then yes, your income has kept up with inflation. If you play games or the stock market, it hasn't.

I've never had a fast enough connection, I've only ever played games or the stockmarket. Incomes from games have increased over the years, the games award more points and there are now more games to play. When I first started I'd be lucky to get 1,000 neopoints from the games a day, now I can get far in excess of that. The opportunities have increased in every aspect, it just happens that some aspects have more opportunities than others.

No, my point is that income from reselling goes up in price naturally as the price of the items you resell goes up. You don't have to work harder to make more money. Income from playing games doesn't go up with inflation. You do have to work harder to make more money. And, I expect your real (ie, taking inflation into account) income from games has gone up less than you think. Back when it was harder to earn 1k, you could buy a lot more with that 1k, too.

The fact is, it's income from games that drives the inflation, at least in part. So by definition game income can't really keep up with inflation. (Sure, there are more games you can play, but doing more work for the same real income isn't "keeping up with inflation").

You say few people are willing to save for years to get a certain pet and yet many do, people still do it! You only need to look around a numerous number of lookups to see that many people have gone out of their way to get painted pets.

Obviously, I am aware that many people have painted pets, having 6 of them myself. I assure you I did not save for years to get any of them. But I have a feeling I have a reasonably high income compared to many Neopians who (say) primarily play games (yay stocks).

Seriously.... I don't mean to sound rude, but some people just seem to expect TNT to bow down to them and admit "Yes, we were wrong for not giving you, out of all of the millions of neopets players, special priveleges!" Neopets is just a game... users are free to use their imaginations and creative skills to make their pets, and their petpets, etc however they want.

I love how people say "I don't mean to sound rude" right before they say something really rude.

I certainly don't expect TNT to "bow down" and "give me special priveleges." PB deflation doesn't give any user special status, it makes it easier for EVERYONE to paint their pets. In fact, as I have several hoarded PBs in my SDB and am really only thinking of creating and painting one more pet (which I could easily do right now if I really want to) a sharp PB deflation could easily hurt me more than it helped me. But oh, well... I still think it would be better for the game as a whole.

As you aptly point out, Neopets is just a game. And while a little challenge is good -- things shouldn't be TOO easy -- when games reach the point where people have to save for vast periods of time just to paint one pet, that's just silly. It's a game, and it's supposed to be fun. Spending huge quantities of time working for very little reward isn't fun. As I said, if I want that I'll play Real Life instead.